City money and a potential state technology grant will fund the purchases. They dovetail with new wiring and switches installed this summer and last and ongoing teacher training about how to embed technology into instruction.

Danbury, like other districts across the state, especially larger ones, is scrambling to have teachers and students ready for the Smarter Balanced Assessments, online tests aligned to the national Common Core State Standards.

They will be used universally in the 2014-15 school year, but might be used next spring too as practice.

So, it's critical that Danbury's 17 schools have up-to-date computer infrastructure, the latest software, and enough iPads and laptops, even though tests will be given over several days.

"This is huge. The larger districts are challenged. We have so many students, and to put technology in the hands of all students is tough to do," said Superintendent Sal Pascarella.

"Technology is an integral part of what we do, not just with assessments, but with how we deliver instruction."

In the last school year, wireless technology was installed at the middle and high schools and the district is adding it to the elementary schools, too.

That means students can bring their own laptops and other devices to school, which helps, since Danbury can't purchase devices for each student as some other districts do, Pascarella said.

Joseph Martino, schools finance director, worked with the city on the plan to pay for the technology. "It is one of our greatest needs," he said. "There is no question about it."

This summer, the district is spending $357,000 to upgrade critical servers and replace core switches at the high school.

The Danbury City Council last month approved a $750,000 five-year plan to fund an array of upgrades and equipment.

The first $150,000 will pay for Google Chromebooks for use in the middle schools this fall. They cost half as much as laptops since they don't require the purchase of other software, Martino said.

"All of what we are replacing will be more reliable," he said.

The city also will apply for $350,000 from a new $10 million state competitive technology grant that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is awarding districts.

"There are many districts, even small ones, who say they have outdated technology that will be a problem for them," said William Glass, deputy superintendent.

When equipment is aged, it can't use the newer software that's needed for the testing, Glass said, but it is more than technical shortfalls that drive upgrades.

"As new incantations of software appear, there is a new opportunity for teachers and kids to do far more robust lessons," he said.

For instance, students can do simulated lessons online, and online textbooks can be updated immediately.

The technology upgrades are changing some approaches to teaching, too. For instance, the district is eliminating computer labs in five elementary schools and instead will have carts with laptops that roll into classrooms.

The district needed the lab classrooms for expanded full-day kindergarten.

The change will also allow teachers to be more flexible about using technology, Glass said.

"Now that we are wireless in more and more buildings, there is not a need for students to be in labs."

Danbury tried the online test in May at three schools. The tests have a bank of questions, so even if 25 students sit in the same room, their screens have different questions, Glass said.

In addition, it's a "smart test," so it asks successively harder questions as students answer them. Teachers receive a better measure of students' knowledge, which Glass said is "exciting."

This will be an important year, he said, for schools, teachers and students as they become comfortable with the new tests, whose results will matter in the 2014-15 school year.

The state has asked the U.S. Department of Education to let Connecticut districts have the option to administer just the new test.

Now the law requires districts to administer the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance tests next spring. The new test would be in addition to the traditional one, even though the state will only use the online test in the future.